Friday, February 09, 2007

Iraq - The Human Costs of Their Lies

American Soldiers - Dead: 3118, Injured 23417

Every day we are losing soldiers who went to Iraq on an unjustified mission. According to Iraq Coalition Casualties, 33 have died in the first 9 days of February. Estimates about the number of Iraqi civilian casualties vary, but research data released by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health mentions more than 650,000. Those of us who opposed the war have again been vindicated. We said that they lied. They did. No matter what spin is put on the revelations, the report that former under secretary of defense, Douglas Feith, embellished data about Iraq and al-Qaeda connection to support Bush Administration's position, confirms that the nation was lied to. It was a deliberate act to deceive the American public.

Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability"that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Feith's office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda," according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith's activities as "an alternative intelligence assessment process."

Douglas J. Feith, former undersecretary of defense, defended his report asDouglas J. Feith, former undersecretary of defense, defended his report as "a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community."

An unclassified summary of the full document is scheduled for release today in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which Levin chairs. In that summary, a copy of which was obtained from another source by The Washington Post, the inspector general concluded that Feith's assessment in 2002 that Iraq and al-Qaeda had a "mature symbiotic relationship" was not fully supported by available intelligence but was nonetheless used by policymakers.